Super Bowl XLVI
Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Buried on the bench a little more than a week ago, the Knicks' Jeremy Lin is now the toast of New York.
Beyond the Arc: No. 14 UNLV's 65-63 victory over No. 13 San Diego State adds spice to the Mountain West Conference race.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
Marlies Schild of Austria won her sixth World Cup slalom of the season Saturday after overall leader Lindsey Vonn and defending champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch crashed out in the opening run on the windy Pyrenees course.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
John Sommers II / Reuters
CINCINNATI - One game in, that new Mets bullpen sure looks good.
Daniel Murphy drove in both New York runs with a homer and a groundout Monday, a memorable showing in his first big league opener, and the Mets’ rebuilt bullpen made it hold up for a 2-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on a raw, cold afternoon.
The Mets became known for meltdowns the last two seasons, blowing division leads in September. They tried to fix their biggest problem — the balky bullpen — by signing Francisco Rodriguez and trading for J.J. Putz at the winter meetings, bringing in two All-Star pitchers with a history of success closing games.
The first time out, they were nearly perfect.
Johan Santana (1-0) went 5 2-3 innings, extending his streak without a loss since June 28, and the bullpen didn’t allow a hit the rest of the way.
Putz gave up a walk in the eighth. Rodriguez, who saved a major league-record 62 games for the Los Angeles Angels last season, retired all three in the ninth for his first save with New York.
The final three outs were a huge problem last season when Santana pitched. The left-hander watched the bullpen blow five of his leads in the ninth inning last year.
Cincinnati managed only three hits overall. The Reds’ run was scored by Darnell McDonald, a 30-year-old outfielder with a total of 21 career games in the majors. He singled off Santana in the sixth and scored on Brandon Phillips’ sacrifice fly.
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Murphy went him one better.
The 24-year-old outfielder hit a solo homer in the fifth off Aaron Harang, who lost a career-high 17 games last season and opened this season with another one. Murphy, the least-experienced player in the lineup, also drove in another run with a groundout in the sixth.
It was 37 degrees with light rain at first pitch, which was pushed back by 13 minutes because of conditions that felt even worse to players accustomed to 80-degree days in spring training. During one cloudburst, first base umpire Angel Hernandez hiked up a blue facemask, covering everything except the tip of his red nose and his squinting eyes.
Reds first baseman Joey Votto, who grew up in Ontario, said it was too cold for a Canadian to play ball.
“I never headed outside when it was anything like this,” Votto said. “You play hockey in this weather, not baseball.”
There was ice — the semi-frozen stuff that fell from the sky intermittently and turned everything in the pitchers’ favor. There was nice defense at work as well.
Mets right fielder Ryan Church made a sliding catch of Ramon Hernandez’s sinking liner in the second inning, bobbling the ball off his leg before getting it firmly in his glove. Church then threw to first to double up Edwin Encarnacion.
Reds right fielder Jay Bruce threw out David Wright at the plate as he tried to score from second base on Carlos Beltran’s single in the fifth inning, getting him even though his throw slowed considerably on the wet infield grass.
Notes: Santana has gone 18 starts without a loss. ... The Mets are 31-17 on opening day, the best winning percentage in the majors. They lost their first eight openers, too. ... McDonald played CF in place of Willy Taveras, who has the flu. ... RH Bronson Arroyo, who had a flare-up of carpal tunnel syndrome during spring training, threw before the game and felt good. The Reds decided to let him make his originally scheduled start on Thursday against the Mets instead of resting for the week. “It felt like I was throwing twice as hard as I normally do,” Arroyo said. ... Reds Hall of Famer Frank Robinson rode in the pregame parade through downtown, along with current pitchers Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto.
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SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
DeMarco: Plug in a well-heeled ownership group and negotiate one of those mega-bucks TV deals that are going around, and the Dodgers could become the west coast version of the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.
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Phil Pressey's first 3-point attempt went in off the glass. The sophomore guard, known more for flashy, no-look passes than his outside touch, took that sketchy success and ran with it.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
